United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that his country will get up to 50 million barrels of oil from Venezuela.
In a social media post, Trump said that the interim administration in Caracas “will be turning over” between 30 million barrels and 50 million barrels of “high-quality” sanctioned oil to the US.
The oil will be sold at the market price and the money “will be controlled by me…to ensure it is used to benefit the people” of Venezuela and the US, Trump said.
With the current oil prices of $56 per barrel, the arrangement could be worth $2.8 billion.
The US president said he has asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to implement the plan immediately.
On Saturday, the US military abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in an operation for alleged drug trafficking.
A day later, Trump told The Atlantic that Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez would “pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” if she “doesn’t do what’s right”.
Rodríguez, a Maduro ally, had taken over as the president after the latter was abducted.
The US is among the countries in the West that do not recognise the Maduro government in Venezuela. Washington has long backed the Venezuelan Opposition.
Washington has accused Maduro of narco terrorism and drug trafficking, among other crimes – allegations that the Venezuelan government rejects.
Caracas has described the US government’s actions as “military aggression” and has demanded that Maduro and Flores be immediately released.
Since late August, the US had put together a major military deployment off the Venezuelan coast with the stated goal of combating drug trafficking in Latin America, though it has focused on Venezuela.
On December 10, the US military seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, claiming that the vessel was transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. On December 16, Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil vessels heading to and leaving Venezuela.
The decision escalated Washington’s military and economic pressure campaign on the Maduro government. The South American country’s economy is heavily dependent on oil exports.
Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, but is not among the top 10 producers.
The US president had said at the time that his country wanted to regain oil that he claimed had been stolen by Venezuela. It was unclear what oil or land Trump had been referring to, as Venezuela had nationalised its oil and gas industry in the 1970s.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington would not play a day-to-day role in governing Venezuela, apart from enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” on the country.
The remarks were a turnaround from Trump’s statement on Saturday that the US would be “running” Venezuela after Maduro’s abduction.
Also read: What the US invasion of Venezuela reveals about international law
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